


The Quiet Man

by Nope



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-08
Updated: 2005-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:55:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25785481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nope/pseuds/Nope
Summary: Severus isn't fooled.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	The Quiet Man

"What I find most curious," said Snape in the middle of the quiet, "is how many people mistake polite courtesy for being nice."

The Order have left. They're alone in the kitchen. Remus raised his head to look across the table at the other man, face a mask of polite confusion.

Snape snorted derisively. "You've got them all fooled, haven't you? With your soft words and quiet manner, with your old clothes and your ready chocolate. They can't see the real you at all."

"Like you do?" asked Remus mildly, and pushed himself to his feet.

"I know," said Snape. "What you're hiding." He watched Remus come around the table, turning as the other man passed so he was always face on. "I know what lies beneath."

"Here we go," murmured Remus with a small smile, bending over the tea-set.

"Go on," sneered Snape. "Smile. Scoff. It's a charade, Lupin. An act you've kept up for so long you believe it yourself. Is this how you got to Black?"

Remus stopped moving.

"So quiet, so lonely, so soft and sad. The weight of the world, bravely carried upon your fragile shoulders? So put upon. So cursed. And he, always such a Gryffindor, always ready to help anyone provided they were just like him. He made it so easy for you, didn't he? Playing the waif he wanted, instead of the wolf you were. Good old, stupid, reliable, Si--"

China cracked and before the tea had reached the ground Remus had swung round and was pushing Snape back into the table, a jagged shard of cup pressed into Snape's neck.

"You don't say his name," said Remus.

When Snape swallowed, a tiny bead of red blossomed on his throat. "You're the wolf," he said, voice rough and raw, lips twitching in a parody of a grin, his heart pounding loud in Remus's ears. "You always have been. You always will be. You've never understood what it's like for real people."

"You like this." Remus pressed harder into Snape. "Don't you?"

"I've never pretended otherwise." Snape's eyes glittered.

Remus swore and stepped back, dropping the makeshift blade. "Fuck you."

Snape straightened up, touching a hand to his throat, fingers coming away wet.

"Later," he said, and licked his fingers clean.


End file.
